sleep all night was fruit falling from its branch

but scared to death of hitting ground

 

so past her father’s workshop she tiptoed 

into her brother’s room 

then down on all fours to sniff his satchel 

 

and bite its zipper instead of touching 

his forehead with the soft speaking of his name

 

a goodbye was the sole property

of the patent-hungry heart

 

poor form on hands and knees

at the starting blocks with his war gear 

who couldn’t be outrun beside her

 

at each dreambreath her brother

paused to declare desertion before 

thinking better of it 

 

what secret did the seashell of blood tell

into her ear when she stood up from the floor too fast

or the robin’s lightheaded song at the window 

 

how to put the shushing of floor boards to text 

tongue against gums to text

 

or her pause to pick her teeth

the satchel’s zipper stuck there 

 

she stood still so as not to wake her brother 

beneath the robin’s sun-hoarding wings

 

in his warm bedroom’s winter starving

his eyes closed and cheeks draining of red 

the slow bloodletting of his sleep